A lengthy title but just some of the events held in The Malay Federated States (Malaya) and Singapore in the 1930's,1940's and 1950's.

I am putting together details of all motor racing in this area from late 1920's on to the mid 1960's and looking for any an all details of event, drivers and cars that competed.

I am also very interested to get copies of the actual race programmes and photos of the car badges of the various motoring organisations ie Singapore Motor Club.

Part of the interest is to finalize the Jaguar entrants for the second volume of our Jaguar XK book which will include all the race histories.

One person who I would love to find out more about is Brian R. Hawes a Malayan Airways Pilot who ran an XK120 at the Gap Hill Climb as early as October 1950. We have have not been able to identify this car and given the date and being RHD it can only be one of about 80 cars. By July 1951 Brian had fitted a monoposto body to the chassis but Brian was killed in a race crash in another racecar the Kudensay Special at the Gap Hill Climb in May 1952. The XK120 had the standard bodywork refitted and was sold, the special body went to Freddie Pope and was used both on Popes XK120 and later his XK140 including being run at the Macau GP

I do have a lot of good info in that the Straits times newspaper is accessible on line and I have copies of a lot of Neil Moncreiff's records and I have all the original negatives from noted late 50's local photographer Loris J.Goring. Unfortunately none of the Malayan newspapers appear to be on line and I am not even sure what papers are around and where yet to source them.

I would love to hear from anyone interested in motorsport in the far east and that includes Hong Kong and Japan

I had a interesting chat with phil caroline the other day and at 91 he would be one of the older surviving drivers of the 1950's ran an Allard an Aston DB2 in this part of the world.

Phil actually took Brian Hawes personal possessions back to his family in Surrey England. I am now leaning towards the fact he took an XK120 from the UK to this part of the world which would account as not being able to tie it to any of the local cars.

It appears not, Terry. John Francis Barraclough was born in Chorlton in Lancashire in 1910 and there's a travel record for him on Ancestry going to Malaya in January 1935. He was officially declared dead in 1947: the National Probate Calendar records his death as "on or since 13 February 1942 at sea through enemy action". The exact date suggests he may have been on one of four British ships sunk by the Japanese on that day: SS Derrymore, SS Hosang, HMS Scorpion or HMS Li Wo. Two Dutch tankers, the Manvantara and the Merula, were also sunk on the 13th. His wife apparently survived, since probate was obtained on her behalf.

Another Malaya-based driver who definitely didn't survive is Charles Crowther-Smith. He is on CWGC: died Feb 20th 1942 in a hospital in Singapore, presumably of wounds received?

It appears not, Terry. John Francis Barraclough was born in Chorlton in Lancashire in 1910 and there's a travel record for him on Ancestry going to Malaya in January 1935. He was officially declared dead in 1947: the National Probate Calendar records his death as "on or since 13 February 1942 at sea through enemy action". The exact date suggests he may have been on one of four British ships sunk by the Japanese on that day: SS Derrymore, SS Hosang, HMS Scorpion or HMS Li Wo. Two Dutch tankers, the Manvantara and the Merula, were also sunk on the 13th. His wife apparently survived, since probate was obtained on her behalf.

Another Malaya-based driver who definitely didn't survive is Charles Crowther-Smith. He is on CWGC: died Feb 20th 1942 in a hospital in Singapore, presumably of wounds received?

The probate records aren't all that clear. Letters of administration were granted to "George Birkett Myers, retired bank manager, attorney to Margaret Elizabeth Barraclough." I can't trace her at all though.

It's probably his wife - but might even be another female relative: mother? Sister? His home address is given as in Stockport, but probate was granted in Carlisle - which just adds to the confusion! So it may be that his wife was still in Malaya (or elsewhere abroad) and dealing with it through a solicitor. It should be possible to obtain the basic details of the probate if you're interested - but it may not answer all your questions and certainly won't tell you what happened to his SS 100! Letters of administration are granted when someone dies intestate - so there won't be a will associated with the probate documents and a list of distributed assets is unlikely. His whole estate was worth just under £500 at 1947 prices - about £16500 today.

Crowther-Smith ran a small Fiat: regular competitor in Malayan meetings, including the Johore GP.

Article downloads are a bit slow, but they always get there in the end! I find the easiest way to hunt for race reports in that period is to search for Lim Peng Han: he is an ever-present driver and/or car builder!

thanks I had visited the Singapore library many years ago and spent a day going through the straits times newspaper on microfilm - this was before they invented the computer! when I found something you wrote it down or took a picture of the screen

now you can check every word fom the comfort of your own home and save a copy of everything you find straight to your computer

terry

The Singapore National Library website is pretty good. Includes the Straits Times, as well as a number of other other Singapore and Malayan papers.

Article downloads are a bit slow, but they always get there in the end! I find the easiest way to hunt for race reports in that period is to search for Lim Peng Han: he is an ever-present driver and/or car builder!

I am compiling information on the history of motor racing in Singapore for an exhibition the National Heritage Board is holding next month. It is not easy getting all the information even with the ST archives. Contact me at iandc@live.com.sg

From a reply on another thread, you will need to consult the archives of both The Straits Times and The New Straits Times. I am not familiar with the Singapore Press but I suspect there may well be other papers, including Malay and Chinese language ones, that have their own photo archives.

I was having a look at my collection of the Singapore Motor Club "The S.M.C. Gazette" an A5 size multi page publication, vol 1 # 1 is October 1958.

Loris Goring notes in the editorial that this is the first full edition maybe indicating they did have newsletter prior but it does note that the club was in its 10th year and that there were 27 people at the inaugural meeting through to now having 400 members.

I would be keen to know if there were any newsletters prior to oct 1958.

Production of the magazine became spasmodic after the june 1961 edition the next being that I know of No 1 1964 with editorial noting reappearance after an absence of 4 years.

I am always interested in any information on motor racing in this area prior to say 1965